Happy Monday, Niner Fans! Exactly 2 weeks from today we will have a 49ers football game that actually matters! If you’re not excited about that then you should probably go see a doctor because something must be wrong with you 🙃 

Weekly Updates

• Those Aiyuk and Trent Williams contract updates you’ve been waiting on…

• GREAT news on the injury front as Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos both avoided any seemingly serious injuries from the final preseason game!

  • Kyle Shanahan said Floyd is day-to-day, and Gross-Matos is week-to-week.

• Sticking with injury news, Ricky Pearsall returned to practice today!

  • Wish Pearsall was able to get some preseason game action, but nonetheless it’s good to have him back practicing 2 weeks head of game 1.

• This 49ers need to trim their roster to 53 players by Tuesday afternoon, and the first notable casualty today was RB Matt Breida.

  • The 49ers brought Breida back this offseason, but his chances of making the roster were always slim as the niners are loaded at running back 💪 

• Other cuts so far today:

  • RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn

  • P Presley Harvin III

  • OL Lewis Kidd

  • WR Jontre Kirklin

• More cuts coming Tuesday as they get down to a roster of 53.

Tidbits from the Week

• Wide Receivers around the NFL not named Brandon Aiyuk continue to get PAID! The Cowboys today announced a 4-year $136M extension for star WR CeeDee Lamb. That’s a lot of cheddar 💰️ 

  • IF the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk have made serious progress on a deal, it’s possible that this new deal will undo any progress between the two sides. I don’t see any way that this CeeDee deal leads to a quicker resolution of the Aiyuk situation. The rollercoaster continues…

• Former 49ers top draft pick Trey Lance threw a whopping 5 interceptions in the Cowboys’ preseason game this weekend.

  • I’m no expert, but I don’t think that is good…

• Speaking of former 49ers..Frank Gore’s son had a monster game this weekend! Frank Gore Jr. rushed 18 times for 101 yards and a TD in the Buffalo Bills’ preseason finale!

Fan Poll

Roster Analysis

With no game to recap or preview today, I wanted to take a look at the expected strengths and weaknesses of the 49ers roster depth going into the season. The injury scares to Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos highlighted the lack of depth at defensive end for the 49ers, and got me thinking about the position groups.

• Quarterback: Extremely deep and talented

  • Of course led by Purdy, the 49ers go 3-deep at QB with Joshua Dobbs and Brandon Allen - both of whom are very capable backups.

  • I wouldn’t be surprised if either Dobbs or Allen gets traded before the season starts to a team looking for a backup QB

• Running Back: Also extremely deep and talented

  • Not much to say here: CMC is the best back in the league, Jordan Mason could probably start for half the teams in the NFL, and Elijah Mitchell is a very capable RB (when healthy). Rookie Isaac Guerendo may even add another element to this group.

• Wide Receiver: With Aiyuk this is one of the best WR groups in the entire NFL. Without NFL Aiyuk, it is a solid yet largely unproven group.

  • Jauan Jennings provides good stability next to Deebo, as does Chris Conley. Rookies Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing are unproven, but show great potential.

• Tight End: Very strong

  • George Kittle - enough said.

  • Logan Thomas and Eric Saubert provide unspectacular, but solid depth behind Kittle.

• Offensive Line: THIN! An area of concern

  • Trent Williams sustaining an injury or not agreeing to a contract extension would be catastrophic for this team.

• Defensive Line: Strong, but thin!

  • As mentioned above, an injury to either Bosa or Leonard Floyd would spell serious trouble for this defensive end group. Not great depth.

  • In the middle of the line, the depth is solid with Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins (check out a highlight of his below) leading the way.

• Linebacker: Very strong and solid depth

  • Once Dre Greenlaw returns this is maybe the best unit in the NFL. De’Vondre Campbell should provide solid relief until Dre returns.

• Secondary: Deep! (Finally)

  • This might be the first time in a long time that the secondary is a deep unit. The addition of promising rookies Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha provides even more depth alongside Hufanga, Brown, Odom, Ward, Lenoir, Yiadom, et al.

In conclusion, defensive end and the O-Line appear to be the two areas of real concern when it comes to depth. If healthy, our D-Line figures to be very strong, but an injury would be scary. On the O-Line the 49ers already struggle and aren’t deep, so an injury or holdout there would be very bad news bears.

Fan Trivia

FOUR-ty Niners Graphics

FOUR-ty Niners Facts

1) The 49ers had the LEAST number of dropped passes in the NFL last season with just 9! The next closest team to them was the Steelers with 16 drops.

2) There were 9 QBs drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft, including Brock Purdy. None of them aside from Purdy appear to have promising futures as starters in the league: Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Bailey Zappa, Sam Howell, Chris Oladokun, Skylar Thompson, and Purdy.

3) The coldest game the 49ers have ever played in was when the Niners visited the Packers at Lambeau Field in 2014. The temperature was minus 13, and when factoring in wind-chill it was a bone-chilling minus 48 🥶 🧊 

4) Jerry Rice was the first 49er to score 1,000 points in a 49er career. He broke the previous 49er scoring record held by punter Ray Wersching who had 979 points in his career.

Highlight of the Week

Remember I mentioned a Maliek Collins highlight earlier? Well, here you go. Collins, a free agent signing at Defensive Tackle, is expected to play a large role in the middle of the defensive line stopping the run. While it was a preseason game and this was done against backups…this is still one of the most spectacular (and vicious) plays I’ve seen from a DT in a long time! Collins absolutely rag-dolls 2 Raiders linemen to the ground before he tackles the running back 💪 . I’ll take a lot more of that please!

That’s all for today! Please go get your vitals checked if you aren’t excited for week 1 vs the Jets. If you are excited and healthy, please stay that way, and pray that our players stay healthy too over the next 2 weeks of practice!
Until next time..

Bang Bang Niner Gang!

If you want to read previous blogs, go here: https://www.goldrushblog.com